Rage Against `The Page' Free Press Mideast primer accused of downplaying the role of Arab terrorism. re 'RE LEADERS ISRAEL 1os:....40syt (AMR ARAFAT pt-esidetfc - folloies fetiole struggle iri 192V, sietit at itrtro it< rriorotoctt. izetel As xi chi•i, txt sireuF in Cttiro fqittAi. Nitistst 1945t, : ssn rsztett 1. us 0:4tral:tisiiititi. to IASI, ho rksorired titstmtr it: ke 33, 4i, f. f>ik.a: a V • hkr: seF^k M290 • • EAvssys: FkkbP6St sirs03A. , : , • Aost.A;r:.Atod ;re. tfig ottcArt d sxii3 SAY* *taw PALESTI.NIRN ItUTIIORITY Itts ,Attlot ittrA Sik,. f.it,ze*;•:o... ,::$4 A.,R0.(4 MIS.•f t,A'Re: WC% foidloW osolsdArt *dr. p:, xil,t/tftWa'smti. 41 PA WA MP: Nigslouxt t,w f.5 ra&*.. - km"; W : ?•. , neg forty•& )- Ara: iitat 1rovt ref s. NAZ a. WOO' Va'S Cti:1 ■ 4<$<$.Vigi 'Aft WM. n4ef SV1:3y Norn:a..p. *itd task: tFOrn di:00 *k the ;;;Z,Aki 92V. C.sqrtvnettst eatscsal ,k,ex,k,$1.$4,1,:os'ot• kzlzte> ra , Ikl*z•ii Art ,:t IS to4otzstd thsi Si.;.; le•Aiitrtrtri: re;tresztrAttt.i',.1 of Vo t,...ist.inis,p* iR in?,*NI:ithatat tt?f;iir3. {0$5,": ,... :tartkrA r3tSkalft.t. ^ axa.WS • rskirdt: os,:r.rt d SAt Wrk. SxksOno dAsdi Attimsd. • 1. - EZI,ASt161, ra,.rgrt:xe skA$: sworn iii Ae< 1:rv:siG%tot. Vr tiKt Pa:sist;.::Ar DAVID SACHS Senior Copy Editor A one-page Detroit Free Press "primer" offering a historical overview of the Mideast conflict has raised a grassroots protest by nearly a thousand members of the Detroit Jewish community. The primer, entitled "A region in crisis" and pub- lished on page 10A of the March 13 Free Press, offered issues, maps, a timeline the key players in the Israeli-Palestinian confrontation. After the wave of suicide bombings aimed at the Israeli public intensified in March, some local Jews began getting frustrated watching TV news where Arab groups (labeled as terrorists by the U.S. State Department) are referred to as mere "militants." And when their morning newspaper's primer on the Mideast crisis didn't mention Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's lifetime of terrorism and failed to identify Palestinian terrorist groups as such, they got angry. Berl Falbaum, a Farmington Hills-based public relations executive, tapped into some of that anger with a petition drive to get the Free .Press to correct what Falbaum calls a grossly inaccurate historical record. Falbaum was a reporter for the Detroit News in the 1960s and has taught journalism part-time at Wayne State University for 34 years. He's an occa- sional opinion page contributor to the Free Press, Detroit News, Oakland Press, Detroit Jewish News and Michigan Chronicle. "I got a barrage of phone calls at work and at home saying, 'What are your going to do about this?"' Falbaum said. "It all ended up in a meeting at my house on a Sunday [March 24], with about 15 people." The group decided to. run a one-page", petition- style ad in the Free Press to respond to the one-page primer. But when they found the cost prohibitive, they decided to run the ad in the Jewish News instead [see pages 30-31], then send it to Free Press Publisher Heath Meriwether, asking him to print it. Falbaum's committee obtained 960 signatures for the ad and the endorsement of four organizations: the Anti-Defamation League Michigan Region, B'nai B'rith Great Lakes Region, Jewish War Veterans-Department of Michigan and Jewish Women International Morgenthau Chapter. "The signatures tell you the outrage in the com- munity," Falbaum said. Contributions received by the committee exceed- ed the cost of the Jewish News ad by $2,000. Those funds will be donated to the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. The disputed elements of the Free Press primer can be found on its Web site by clicking on the headlines, "Key players in the Mideast dispute," "The Leaders: Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon" and "The Tension Today: Two peoples, one strip of land, no easy answers" on the Web page httpildetroitfreepress.com/backindex/2002/03/13/ newsindex.htm Falbaum's ad lists six major objections to the Free Press package, including these issues: • The failure to report Arab nations were respon- sible for wars to "drive Israel into the sea." • The failure to refer to Arafat's "40 years of terror." • The failure to state that Arafat, in Arabic, "con- tinually called for Israel's destruction." • The implication that the second intifada (upris- ing) was launched because of then-Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount. • The failure to distinguish between Israeli civilians killed intentionally by Palestinian terrorists and unfortunate fatalities of Arab civilians caused by Israel when terrorists have taken refuge among them. • The claim that Palestinians were driven from their homes when Israel was founded. The point of his ad, Falbaum said, is that the primer was "a page depicted as history, which means it's supposed to be all factual. "There's no question you'll come away from read- ing [the primer] with the impression that Israel has been culpable for 50 years of violence. "They talk about that the Arabs consider Sharon a . war criminal. There's no balance to show that Arafat, at least in Jews' eyes, is considered to be a terrorist." Free Press Responds Falbaum sent a draft of the ad to Free Press' Meriwether April 7. Berl Meriwether responded with an offer Falbaum to run a streamlined version as a let- ter to the editor. Falbaum said he would have to consult with his committee on whether to accept the offer. His per- sonal reaction April 10 was that he was looking for the paper to print a correction — not a letter to the edi- to r. Meriwether, in explaining the Free Press'view, said the primer had a Heath limited scope. Meriwether "The primer tried to provide our readers basic information and histo- ry about the Mideast conflict in a one-page format," he said. "It wasn't intended to be a full treatment of that history, with all perspectives and interpretations of all the parties included." Meriwether acknowledged the subject matter involved tremendous David sensitivity. Gad-Harf "We sit here with perhaps the largest Arab-American population in the country — with certainly a vigorous, strong and large Jewish population. And I understand that everybody is looking at everything we do very carefully, and it's a time of tremendously high emotion. And we try as best we can to give people Don the information in a fair and accu- rate way. ,, Cohen Falbaum said he was concerned that schoolteachers might use the primer as a teaching aid, but Meriwether said the page was not reprinted by the paper as a reference guide. . Clarifications In addition to the Falbaum group's efforts, the Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Detroit pursued the issue. David Gad-Harf, Council's executive director, led a delegation that met with Meriwether and Free Press editors March 20. Gad-Harf's biggest complaint was with the con- RAGE on page 26 4/12 2002 25